Commerce City Traffic Court - any advice? ASAP have to leave in 40 minutes

[Glock Shooter]

I posted about this a few months back. I was driving my family home from the Mile High Market Place. I got pulled over for allegedly failing to stop at a sign. I presented my DL and proof of insurance but I had an old insurance card that showed expired, even though I'm fully insured. He wrote up for the insurance thing and said "you'll receive a letter in about 4 -6 weeks, just send us a copy of your insurance and you'll be good to go" Well, that was a bit of an understatement or I misunderstood him. Because what I was supposed to do was call the court 30 days later if I didn't receive a summons, then appear at the next traffic court date. Well, that was 9/15/11 and they found me guilty by not showing, issued a fine of $180 and 4points on my license. I have to go to court this morning and ask the judge to reopen the case so that he can view my evidence, a signed letter from my insurance agent that I have been in continuous coverage for since 2004.

Any advice on how I should speak to the judge? Questions to ask? Things to say?

Sorry, have to leave in 40 minutes.....

[Graves]

"Mile high market place" lol...must be new in these parts.

No help here, but good luck.

[JohnTRourke]

dress nice
be nice
you'll talk to the DA long before you talk to the judge

BRING PAPERWORK and lots of it
They hear a million stories a day, but few have paperwork

if you can clearly show the paperwork it's more apt to go well.

you'll still have to pay court costs. bring a checkbook.

[BPTactical]

As noted above-dress to impress. Judges like to see that people respect them and the court. Speak well and give them the respect due and be factual. DA's and Judges recognize that people are human and oversights occur.
Just don't give them a line of BS, they hear BS all day long and see right through it.
Your demeanor will carry weight.
Good luck!

[TSOTSI]

Bring your own KY. All govts have slashed their budgets regarding creature comforts. Bring an interpreter. Preferably Mongolian. The odds of them having anyone on their staff who speaks or understands Mongolian is a million to one. So you can just sit and speak jibberish to one another. Plus the liberals that inhabit the court system have a soft spot for foreigners. They hate citizens.
Argue with the judge (through your interpreter). Get your money's worth.[Rant1]

[BPTactical]

Bring your own KY. All govts have slashed their budgets regarding creature comforts. Bring an interpreter. Preferably Mongolian. The odds of them having anyone on their staff who speaks or understands Mongolian is a million to one. So you can just sit and speak jibberish to one another. Plus the liberals that inhabit the court system have a soft spot for foreigners. They hate citizens.
Argue with the judge (through your interpreter). Get your money's worth.[Rant1]



[LOL][LOL]

[Byte Stryke]

so wait... you weren't served and then you were found guilty?

Umm due process?

I thought you had to be physically served in CO?

[CUatTheEnd]

I think you had a misunderstanding with the officer. This same thing happened to me, had insurance just not with me, the officer issued a ticket for not having proof of insurance, he said just be sure to provide insurance at your court date and it will be dropped. I did and the ticket was dropped. Good luck!

[cysoto]

I thought you had to be physically served in CO?
The OP probably misunderstood the officer's instructions. There must have been a court appearance date on the ticket.

If a person is issued a traffic infraction for failing to provide proof of insurance, the best thing to do is to appear in court on the given date and bring a letter from the insurance company showing continuous coverage. Waiting for Uncle Sam to mail you a reminder is not always a good idea! :)

[KevDen2005]

A little late, but politeness and dressing really nice impresses judges, especially those that are rare traffic offenders and not much of anything else in the legal system. Bring proof of insurance and proof that you had it at the time of the stop.

[Glock Shooter]

Ok, long story short, case dismissed. $30 to the DMV to release the lien on my driver's license.

Long story is that I'm friggin pissed. I dressed in a nice button down. I got there 7:55am and was 5th in line. Within 5 minutes there were 50 people there. I enter the court to check in and am told that I need to go back outside to the window and fill out forms to reopen the case. As politely as possible I ask if I'll have to wait in line again, she says no. I go out to the window where the clerk, lets just say the female version of the Rhinoceros, tells me that the Judge doesn't have to reopen the case but lets try to fill out the motion. I ask her if I was ever served notice and she holds up a mangled envelope that looks like it is addressed to me, I ask if I can see the evidence, and she holds it to the glass. From what I could make out they either did not put postage on the envelope or incorrect postage, either way it was returned to them. I live in a house, there's no way the envelope sat in my mail box as I collect the mail everyday. I was feeling a scam coming on. I wrote in the motion box "I never received a notice from the court, please present evidence that I was served" I go back inside and within 5 minutes I'm called into the prosecutor's office. He looks at what I wrote, I handed him proof that I was in continuous coverage since 2006 and he says "I'm going to dismiss your case". I had to wait another 40 minutes to be officially found innocent by the Judge and I got to work at about 10:30am. What a waste of time.

[SideShow Bob]

Hey, $30 bucks and no points, just a few hours of your time I would call that great day. Be happy and go on with your life.

[funkfool]

Wait... you're out of prison already?
[Coffee]

[SideShow Bob]

Wait... you're out of prison already?
[Coffee]

Jail is the local pokey, prison is for the Big Boys. [LOL]

[sneakerd]

No crap dude- count yourself lucky and smile all the way home!

[BPTactical]

[Beer]
Well played.

[sniper7]

hell man that is a win. you caught them in your act. either way you are going to get to pay the man for something.
$30 is nothing compared to what could have happened. glad it worked out good for you.

[CUatTheEnd]

Well, look at it this way.....there were a lot of other people who had a worse day than you (not me, just say'in). [Beer]